Many audio/video programs, including movies, sporting events, newscasts, and the like, provide captioning (often referred to as “closed captioning”) information, which is typically embedded within a signal carrying the video and audio data for the audio/video program. Many types of devices that provide such audio/video programming to a user, including televisions, digital video disc (DVD) players, and set-top boxes, are often required by way of government regulation to offer this captioning information in conjunction with the video portion of the programming at the option of the user. For example, if the user configures the device (typically by way of a menu system provided by the device) to display closed captioning information, the device presents the video portion of the program along with the captioning on a display, such as a television or monitor screen. Typically, the captioning is a textual representation of the dialogue and other elements of the audio data accompanying the video portion of the program, and its presentation is generally synchronized with the program audio data.
While this captioning data is typically regarded as an aid to those users with hearing impairments, viewers for whom the spoken words of the program audio portion are not in the primary language of the viewer often find that viewing the captioning information enhances or augments their comprehension of the program.